


Cracked Shields and their Teddy Bears

by Sanru



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bromance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Gladio vs Ignis, Stat ailment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-02
Updated: 2017-04-02
Packaged: 2018-10-14 01:59:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10526514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanru/pseuds/Sanru
Summary: A rare stat alignment reveals to Ignis that the Shield isn’t as impervious as he has been trying to play off.





	

**Author's Note:**

> What started out as a drabble to work on writing action scenes turned into this monster with some angst working itself in. 
> 
> This might be considered an AU mostly because I only recently found out that there was a movie, anime series and apparently a novel so don't be surprised if some of the mentioned past events are cannon. I'm only going off what I was mentioned in the game.
> 
> Also I need to apologize in advance because I wanted to get this posted before I left for a business trip for the next couple days so don't be surprised if there are some errors.
> 
> Happy Birthday Gladio! Sorry to put you through such an emotional rollercoaster (not!)

 

Ignis didn’t realize what was going on till after the fact.

Of course, in his defense, he had been back to the rest of the party when it initially happened.  The killer bees that they were hunting were turning into quite formidable foes, mostly due to their small size and highly randomized flight patterns.  Right now, only he and Prompto seemed to be able to hit them with any regularity.  Prompto’s specialty shells and him throwing his daggers were keeping them at bay while Noct and Gladio did their best to hit them when they flew within range.  However, Gladio’s strikes, while powerful enough to kill one in a single blow, were too slow and easy for the bugs to maneuver around.  Noct’s warp strikes failed to hit the mark more times than not.  The bright flash right before the actually hit came caused the creatures to flee in fear.

Ignis had just managed to skewer a bee through its thorax when Prompto yelled behind him, “Gladio!  What the Six is wrong with you?!”  He quickly turned, summoning another dagger to his other hand so he now had two at ready, only to blink in disbelief at what he was seeing. 

The first thing that he noticed was that Gladio’s sword was gone, which was odd considering they were still in the middle of combat.  The second thing he noticed was the look on his face.  Gladio’s features were twisted into a snarl, lips drawn back and showing his teeth and Ignis could swear that he could hear him growling though that may have been his imagination playing tricks on him.  His hands were clenched into fists and judging by the scrutiny at which he was staring at Noct, Ignis knew whatever was happening wasn’t good.  Then he had gotten a good look at his eyes, now glowing softly with a blood red color, and everything clicked into place.

Gladio was berserk.

He had read about the affliction before, a recessive hereditary gene found in killer bees that had all but been bred out through natural process.  A good thing too since the ailment was worse than the more prevalent ability to cause confusion or to poison a victim and there was no curative for it.  You simply had to let the mind altering venom run its course.  The affliction drove the victim into a frothing rage, making them attack friend or foe alike, that could be directed at an individual with single minded ferocity that was downright terrifying.  Judging by how he was looking at Noct -who was watching him wearily as he slowly backed away and Prompto who was staring wide eyed at the bodyguard completely disregarding his own safety- Gladio had tried to hit the Prince. 

“Bloody hell,” Ignis griped to himself as he dismissed his daggers and ran to put himself between Gladio and Noct.  Of course, in accordance to Murphy’s Law, the strongest most capable bare handed brawler of the group would have to be the one inflicted.  Why couldn’t it have been Prompto, or the Prince, or even himself?  Gladio would have had no problem restraining one of them until the effects wore off. 

“Prompto, Noct!  Focus on the bees and do not let yourself get stung!”  He yelled as he closed in on Gladio who was starting to take a menacing step towards Noct.  The Prince appeared to be alright if worried about his friend’s sudden strange and violent behavior.  Thank Eos that Gladio’s initial strike had missed.  They could have very well been spending the rest of the afternoon mending the Prince depending on where Gladio had managed to hit him.

“But Gladio-“ Prompto started even as he turned to fire off several shots at the swarm.

“I’ll handle him!  Focus on protecting yourselves!”  Trying to reason with Gladio was out of the question but Ignis could redirect this forced rage on himself and away from Noct and Prompto.  He was best equipped to deal with Gladio like this, in theory at least.  He had a more defensive combat style and the quick reflexes needed to manage to stay one step ahead of him.  However, Gladio was trained to fight from a very early age and -even though he was a quick study- Ignis barely had five years of formal combat training to his name.  Not that it really mattered, he was the last line of defense for Noctis and he would protect him from anyone, even his berserk addled Shield.

Gladio had begun to turn towards him as he approached.  The trick was to get Gladio to come after him and ignore the other two.  While he could possibly throw the other man, Gladio might have enough cognitive reasoning to turn the maneuver back at him or simple overpower him.  Gladio was easily twice as strong as Ignis and outweighed him by at least fifty pounds of pure muscle.  If the Shield managed to grab him or pin him, there would be very little Ignis could do to free himself.  No, the first attack would have to be quick and startling, with enough force to reach through the blinding rage and provoke Gladio himself.

For lack of a better option, Ignis ducked under a seemingly casual swipe sent his way, and open palmed slapped Gladio across the face with all the force he could muster.

He was worried he had miscalculated.  Gladio’s head whipped off to the side with the blow before coming back to blinked at Noct as if trying to come to terms with what had just happened or who had just done that.  Ignis stepped back to give himself some more room to try and kick out Gladio’s legs from under him.  If he couldn’t redirect Gladio’s anger on him, he could at least keep the larger man on the ground.  Hopefully.  However, a deep rumble came from Gladio that sounded more like a behemoth’s growl than anything a human could produce, and a pair of red glazed eyes turned towards him. 

Ignis steeled himself for a fight, there were times he hated being right.

Gladio let out a roar and came at Ignis with all the intensity of a typhoon.  Ignis didn’t dare try to block any of those initial hits.  Gladio had always pulled back when they sparred together, softening the blows before they made contact, but these were at full strength and Ignis was admittedly afraid of how much damage one would do if it landed on his head or torso.

Ignis stepped back, twisting himself to the left and then the right as he gave up ground to Gladio.  A small opening presented itself at the apex of Gladio’s third swing and he struck back, another slap to the face on the opposite cheek.  It had considerable less force to it simple because Ignis didn’t dare stay to close for Gladio to try and grab him but it was still enough apparently, considering the laser like look he got from the other man, his currently glowing red eyes only adding to the effect.

If he wasn’t careful, Gladio was going to have him for lunch.

For a brief moment, Ignis detected a bit of Gladio’s usual intensity when he was fighting in that look before he was twisting again to get out of range.  The bodyguard’s style change subtly, instead of wide reaching powerful blows that were largely telegraphed, he brought his arms in towards himself.  His feet came closer together even as he raised his hands into a pair of loosely curled fists.  Apparently even berserk, Gladio was still able to utilize all his various forms of hand to hand combat styles.  How unfortunate for Ignis.  At least it appeared he couldn’t maintain and summon his weapons to himself.  A small bonus.

The next three strikes were rapid fire, nearly impossible to dodge.  Ignis managed to back out of range of the first two but the third one clipped his shoulder.  He didn’t bother to do more than flinch as he had to bring up an arm to redirect the uppercut Gladio had tried to slip in when he was distracted by the jabs.  He swept the blow aside with his right arm making it cross their bodies and jabbed the Shield in his now exposed left side, right about where the floating rib was with an open palm strike.  Again, it lacked any force as Ignis used the brief distraction to spin off to the left, trying to maneuver himself behind Gladio.

Gladio didn’t give him the chance, stepping back to keep Ignis to one side instead of behind him.  He was crowding him on purpose, Ignis quickly realized, trying to keep Ignis contained and under his control.  He needed more room to maneuver before Gladio managed to back him into a corner.  Ignis twisted his right leg up and pressed it into Gladio’s hip, using it like launching pad as he forced it to straighten out, pushing the two of them away from each other. 

His tucked his leg back in quickly in case Gladio tried to grab it.  A calculated risk but it gave him some room.  He tucked and rolled with his landing, hitting with a bit more force on the back of his shoulder than intended, but he was back up on his feet slightly crouched and turning to look for Gladio at the same time, having lost sight of him in the unorthodox flip.  He had barely managed to turn before he was leaping to the side, narrowly avoiding the jumping downward heel kick that Gladio had come at him with.  He landed in a partial crouch, one leg extended and Ignis swore he saw the damp ground crack with the force of that impact.

If that had connected-

He didn’t have a chance to finish that thought.  Gladio hadn’t paused his motion, instead rolling over twice to follow Ignis and then spinning a leg up and over to try and sweep Ignis’ legs out from under him.  He didn’t have time to roll away so Ignis jumped up to avoid the trip only to realize that had been the Shield’s intention all along.  Gladio was still spinning with the previous move but his left arm was up, fingers curled back into a palm strike even as he rose himself up enough to strike and Ingis’ torso.  He was still coming down from the apex of his jump.  He couldn’t avoid the coming blow, fueled with the rotational energy of the kick; he could only hope to block the majority of the force as it connected.

He brought both arms across his chest, held a bit back from his torso and breathed out as he held them out with all the strength he had.  It still felt he had been hit with a battering ram.  Gladio’s palm connected with his forearms and slammed them back into his chest.  The force of the strike was so great, Ignis flew back at least ten feet before he roughly connected with the ground, rolling end over end as the kinetic energy was spent.  He rolled up to his feet, gritting his teeth in pain.  The bruising from that was going to be spectacular and he was worried that his arms and possibly a few ribs now had hairline fractures. 

Luckily breathing out as the hit connected allowed him to keep his breath.  He barely managed to straighten before twisting to the right to avoid the punch coming at his head.  He caught the wrist as it went past his face with one hand and quickly pressed the other up into Gladio’s shoulder.  Using the larger man’s momentum against him, Ignis pulled down on his wrist while pressing up into his arm and flipped Gladio over his shoulder. 

He was jumping back before Gladio even landed, trying to get some breathing room before Gladio launched himself at him again.  He tried to remember how long they had been at it, how long he has until the rage leaves his friend, if the text he had read all those years ago mentioned any kind of curative that could at least mitigate the rage no matter how small.  All those thoughts were jumbled together and promptly thrown to the side when his foot landed on a dead branch and rolled off to the side.

Ignis lost his balance.  He was forced to stumble to try and regain his footing.  Precious seconds lost as he went to stand again only to be barreled over as Gladiolus tackled him to the ground.  The Shield put his shoulder into Ignis’ diaphragm, the breath he had managed to keep after the earlier hit is gone in a harsh gasp.  They hit the ground and roll with the incline of the hill they were on, down along the slope and deeper into the stand of thin trees in a twisted confusing mass of flailing arms and legs. 

When they finally come to a stop, Ingis is partially under Gladio.  Gasping for breath he manages to lift his face up enough to suck in a desperate lung full of air before Gladio’s arm comes across his throat.  His other arm comes up under his shoulder to lock onto his wrist and squeezes Ignis back into his chest even as he press his weight down.

Ignis choked.

This had been what he had been trying to avoid from the beginning.  Gladio’s weight was pinning down his legs, one arm was immobilized by the hold and his free hand on instinct was trying to pull Gladio’s arm away from his throat as he struggled to breathe.  His heart pounded in his chest even as dark splotches began to take over his vision.  Gladio was pressing his arm into his larynx and the arteries on both sides of his neck.  Ignis tried pressing back more into Gladio’s chest to relieve the pressure but he merely squeezed harder in response.  He’s on the verge of passing out, his free hand still scrabbling weakly to free his neck when Gladio suddenly lets him go.

He falls bonelessly to the ground, gasping like a fish Noctis just hauled out of some lake.  He can’t seem to pull in air and dimly he wonders why Gladio let him go.  He doesn’t have the time to dwell on it as he roughly rolled over onto his back and his legs are straddled.  Gladio’s eyes are still red, his face still twisted into a snarl as he settles himself down onto Ignis’ thighs and lies down onto his chest.  Gladio slid an arm underneath the small of Ingis’ back while the other hand carefully slides underneath Ignis’ neck, tipping his head back a bit and helping to better open his airway.

Besides their awkward position and the fact that Gladio is pressing his forehead into Ignis’ collar bone, Ignis only cared that he can breathe, that the blood is once again flowing to his brain, that some Astral had apparently intervened so that Gladio hadn’t choked him out or crushed his throat completely.  He could deal with the embarrassment and worry latter.  All that mattered was he could breathe.

It takes him a few minutes to realize that Gladio is whispering into his chest.  The faint movements of his lips barely felt through Ignis’ dress shirt.  A few more moments after that and the blood pounding in his ears drops enough that he can heard the barely audible words that Gladio is whispering against him. 

“…Teddy… Dad… Mom… Teddy…”

Over and over again, the words were whispered almost like a chant.  The thumb on the hand keeping his head tipped back began stroking along his jaw and a full body sigh seemed to go through him as Gladio’s weight sunk more into Ignis.  Heart rate finally slowed and breathing with only a slight hitch to it, Ignis stared up into the overcast sky above them and tried to ignore Gladio nuzzling his collarbone.

While this was preferable to being choked, Ignis was starting to feel decidedly uncomfortable with this situation.  For lack of a better term, Gladio was full out cuddling him in the middle of the Clienge wilderness after trying to hit the Prince he had sworn to protect and then trying to beat the tar out of Ignis for intervening.  While the latter two reasons were undoubtedly from the rage he had been forced into this was not normal for any affliction that Ignis had read or heard of.  He tried to think back only to be derailed by a spreading dampness on his shirt.

Was… was Gladio crying?

Thrown even more for a loop than he already had been, Ignis decided to piece it all together latter.  His friend was obviously distressed and though he was in a less than preferred position to be dealing with whatever was going on, he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to do something about this.  One arm was pinned under both his and Gladio’s weight but the other was only restrained by the arm tucked under his back.  He could still bend his arm at the elbow.  He couldn’t reach much but he could at least reach Gladio’s side.

Gladio let out a small warning growl when he first began to lift his arm so his slowed his movements considerably to appear as non-threatening as possible.  Despite his apparent calm, Gladio was still held fast by the aliment in his mind.  Carefully, Ignis pressed his hand into Gladio’s side, forcing himself to stay loose and relaxed.  The body holding him and pinning him to the ground tensed up as if preparing to fight back but didn’t move.  Embolden by the lack of a violent reaction, Ignis began rubbing his thumb against the tank top in the same cadence as the thumb that had stilled against his jaw had previously been using. 

The movement barely bunched up the fabric of the tank top as he stroke his thumb back and forth but after a moment of barely breathing, Gladio relaxed again.  He lifted his head up and pressed it into Ignis’ neck and confirmed the strategist’s early question on whether the Shield was crying or not.  “It’s alright, Gladio,” his voice was rough and he coughed lightly in response to his whispered words but he pressed on regardless.  “It’s going to be okay.”

He continued to whisper soft comforts to the man lying on him even as Gladio continued his faint chanting.  He continued to cuddle Ignis and the dampness on his neck was the only reason Ignis didn’t attempt to move any more or try to wiggle free of Gladio’s hold.  Their actions seemed to work as Gladio relaxed more and more into his faint grip and the tears on his neck seemed to come at a slower rate.

Ignis knew the moment the Shield came back to himself.  The body above him and holding him close froze, the chat halting in the middle of a word, and then suddenly Gladio was bolting upright, face confused and slightly panicked.  It was still marred with tears but his eyes were finally normal.  “Iggy,” It was like watching someone flip a switch and Ignis felt even more worried about Gladiolus state of mind.  While he wasn’t very as academic as himself, Gladio had a sharp mind and seeing the confused look on his face while he mental pieced together what happened was even more upsetting than the rest of this encounter had turned into.  “Oh gods, Iggy.”

Gladio swung off him and had Ignis sitting up almost as fast as it took him to swipe the remaining tears off his face.  All traces of his madness and the tears that were still drying on Ignis’ neck and shirt were gone.  “Let me see your ribs,” he voice was steady, commanding even as he started undoing the buttons on Ignis shirt himself while Ignis was still reeling from being sat up a touch to quick.  Gladio was back to his typical gruff self with that rough edging of tough love that was purely him.

Only now Ignis knew that was all just an act.

“Gladio, I’m fine,” he said, his voice only a bit raspy now.  He batted away the Shield’s insistence hands.  “I’m more worr-“

“Don’t give me the ‘I’m fine’ routine,” Gladio went back to undoing the buttons on his shirt.  “Ifrit’s Flames, I hit you with enough force to break something and that was before I tackled you into the ground!”  Despite his attempts to stop Gladio from undoing his shirt, the final button was undone and Gladio proceeded to pull his under shirt up enough to get a look at his chest and stomach.  “Shit that looks bad,” he grouched as a gentle finger ran along one of his bruised ribs.

“Gladio!” Ignis snapped as he shoved his shirt back down only to cough as his raised voice irritated his throat.  

One of Gladio’s hands cupped his cheek while the other held him by the shoulder.  “Ffffuuuuuccckkkk,” the Shield hissed as he bent to inspect his neck.  “Dammit Ignis.  You shouldn’t have let me put you in a hold like that.”

“I assure you I was doing everything I could to prevent you from strangling me,” he said, keeping his voice pitched low so as not to strain his abused throat.  Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, Ignis was starting to feel all the individual bruises and the plethora of small cuts and scrapes he no doubt got in their roll down the hill more keenly.  “Most of these injuries are minor.  A potion will see to their mending.”

Gladio leaned back and gave him a slow look over as if memorizing every bruise on Igni’s body.  “Yeah and we’re going to spend some time working on your grappling techniques,” he said in a tone that told Ignis not to even attempt to argue.  “I shouldn’t have been able to pin you down that easily.”

The sounds of footsteps suddenly reached them and Prompto and Noctis crested the hill above them.  “Are you guys okay?”  Prompto said as the two came down the slope towards them, careful not to slide on the damp incline.  “Gladio isn’t completely loco anymore right?”

“We’re fine,” Ignis croaked which seemed to worry the boys despite his words.

Gladio rolled his eyes and looked back to him even as he pulled a potion from their communal stores.  “I’m fine,” he reiterated as he cracked the potion next to Ignis’ chest.  “Iggy looks like he was thrown down several flights of stairs.”  There was bitterness in his voice, a self-blaming that really wasn’t his to be laying on himself.  It wasn’t like he planned to be inflicted with berserk.

“But there is no lasting damage,” Ignis reiterated as he silently tried to assure Gladio of his wellbeing.  Ignis was determined kept a close eye on Gladio for the foreseeable future and to ask him what was going on as soon as the opportunity presented itself.  It was time to find out whatever was going on behind that iron clad façade Gladio had so neatly put into place.

-Break-

Ignis didn’t kid himself into thinking that Gladio would talk about whatever was going on around Noct or Prompto.  However, getting a moment alone with him turned out a lot harder than he had initially expected.  The walk back to the car and the car ride back into Lestallum was hardly the place for such a confrontation simply because of the other two boys with them.  Since both he and Gladio were covered in mud, grass and leaves from their tumble down the hill, they headed for the Leville to get cleaned up while Prompto and Noct went to cash in their bounty and see what else was available among the local postings.

Ignis thought that he would get a moment to talk to Gladio privately then but the other had immediately veered into the bathroom, claiming the shower first.  Irregardless of the fact that Ignis was more covered having acted as the other’s mattress and cuddle toy for a short period of time.  Still the door was closed behind him before Ignis could attempt to argue the fact.  Ignis sighed and lightly rapped a knuckle on the door. 

“We do need a moment to talk, Gladio,” he was unsurprised that the only answer he received was the sound of the water turning on.  He doubted that Gladio would talk to him without some kind of avoidance tactic.  “When you’re ready.”

By the time Gladio was out of the shower, the boys were back and Ignis was more than ready for his own shower.  His muscles were sore from the previous workout and any kind of magical healing felt like a pulled muscle to him.  The hot water on his chest, throat and stomach was soothing and he indulged himself in a few extra minutes under the warm spray. 

By the time he was done and in his more comfortable –and more importantly- clean casual clothing, Gladio was already gone.  Noct was half asleep on the bed closest to the door and Prompto made a beeline to be the next one in the shower.  Before he could close the door, Ignis found out that Gladio had just up and left after telling the two of them to stay put and order room service. 

So, under the disguise of finding a curative or talisman to avoid a repeat of that afternoon that he knew didn’t exist, Ignis left the hotel to find Gladio.  It wasn’t as difficult as he had first feared, given Lestallum’s size.  Gladio was down on the overlook, sitting at a picnic table overlooking the gorge though the view seemed lost to him as he let his head hang between his shoulders.  His shoulders were tense, Ingis noted as he approached, his hands folded before him as he stared at the ground with an unusual intensity.  It wasn’t until he was standing next to him that Ignis realized there was an open bottle of something that smelled vaguely alcoholic in the shadow cast by his body.  The other four empties and single full one next to it told Ignis what he had been doing since he left the room. 

Gladio did not even move or respond to his arrival and Ignis hesitated only a moment before he sat down next to him without saying anything.  If Gladio had any objection to him being here, he wouldn’t stay quiet about it.  The Shield sighed but merely took a swig of the beer he kept hidden instead of saying anything.  Ignis tactfully decided not to say anything about Lestallum’s open container laws.

After sitting there in silence for another moment or two, Gladio reached down for the unopened beer and thumbed the cap open before offering it to Ignis.  Typically he would decline such an offer but he took it with a small ‘thank you’ for Gladio’s benefit and took a small sip.  He was not a fan of stouts, finding them bitter and too heavy, but it was something he could tolerate in small amounts. 

“When I was young,” Gladio’s voice was more of a hush whisper than anything approaching a typical conversation volume but he spoke in a rush, like a deflating balloon, trying to get everything out on the table it seemed before he really thought about what he was saying.  “Dad knew I was going to be a handful.  I had Mom’s temper but I lacked any kind of control or discipline to contain or redirect it into something useful.  One of the first things he taught me outside combat training was how to use a focus to re-center myself.  An image or saying that would calm me down regardless of how pissed off I was.

I ended up choosing the teddy bear Mom got me for my third birthday.   Like ten years after I got it I was cuddling that thing to death while Dad held Iris and tried to get her to calm down because we had just found out Mom was gone.  Skirmish with some deamons that took advantage of a village’s power failure before they were evacuated.  That stuffed bear was all I had left of her then and there were some night I could pretend it was my mom I was hugging and not a stuff toy.

I didn’t bring it.  I wish I had.  In hindsight I should have.  Now it’s gone… and so is Dad.  There are times I want to hug Iris to my chest and cry ‘cause she’s all I got left but that would freak her out.  After we found out Mom had died, I told myself I would never cry in front of her again.  She needed someone there to stay strong for her.  Someone to be a rock for her.  The night I took her up to her room after we first arrive in Lestallum?  She bawled in my arms like she did when she was five.  All I could do was stroke her hair and remind her he died doing his job.  He died defending the King.  It was his honor to go like he had.”

Gladio swallowed audibly and Ignis finally found his voice.  Where ever he had been expecting their conversation to go this was not the direction he would have suspected.  He hadn’t expected Gladio to lay himself bare like this.  “And what about you?  Have you not grieved for your father?”  Now that was an unsettling thought.  Surely Gladio had to have grieved at least once?

Gladio shrugged one shoulder half-heartedly, not lifting his head as he croaked out in a strained voice, “In the shower, it’s all water going down the drain.”

Oh… 

_...Oh _ …

Ignis closed his eyes and took a steadying breath.  This was turning into nothing like he had expected.

“I…” His voice choked and Gladio took a large gulp of his beer before he found it again.  “I think it was the color of your hair.  Maybe.  It’s pretty damn close to being identical to the color of my teddy bear.  It was so close to my face when I had you in that hold.  Made me think of him, of my Mom… and Dad.  All I could think about was holding my teddy bear so I could calm down.”  He tilted his head back and chugged the remaining half of his beer.  Staring up at the sky he lowered the bottle from his lips.  “Fuck… I could have killed you like that, Iggy… I don’t really care what reminded me about that bear only because it’s what kept me from fucking strangling you.”

Ignis didn’t know what to say, didn’t know if there was anything proper to say after that omission.  Even when Gladio sighed and slung an arm over his shoulder, pulling him until he was pressed into his side and delivering a single, chaste kiss to his temple before Gladio rested his chin on top of his head, Ignis found he couldn’t speak or move.  When he finally did move, he had barely put his fingers on the hand holding him against Gladio’s side before the other was pulling away like he was scalded. 

Wordlessly, Gladio gathered up his empties and took the empty bottle from Ignis’ other hand.  He hadn’t realized he had finished it.  “Gladio-“ he tried but was cut off.

“Go back to the room, Iggy,” Gladio sounded normal again.  After everything he had just said and admitted to, it hurt Ignis to think that Gladio was hiding how much pain he was actually in from him.  The others, Noct and Prompto, he treated so much like Iris that it made sense he wouldn’t confide in them but him?  Ignis would have thought that he would have said something to him a lot soon than this and certainly not after nearly strangling him.  “I’ll be back in a couple hours.”

He wanted to call Gladio back.  He wanted to make the other understand that he didn’t have to hide from him.  That he didn’t have to resort to taking a shower to hiding the emotional strife he was going through.  For what was perhaps the first time in his life, Ignis’ words failed him, and Gladio left him sitting at the picnic table, his mind swirling with everything he had just learned.

-Break-

Ignis sat at the picnic table for an hour before making his way back to the Leville.  It was past midnight, Noct and Promtpo already sprawled next to each other on one of the beds.  Still dressed and with phones lying close at hand.  No doubt the two of them had fallen asleep playing King’s Knight again.  Ignis put the phones on the nightstands closest to their owner and threw one of the extra blankets over the two of them in case they got cold before retiring to the other bed. 

Despite the late hour and the exhaustion he could still feel from everything that had happened that day, both emotionally and physically, sleep eluded him.  He stared at the open window only a few feet from him as he tried to come to terms with everything he had heard.  He tried to think of how many times Gladio had taken a shower since Insomnia fell.  He tried to think of the times he had come out of the bathroom after a shower, if there was anything that could have clued Ignis in on what he had been thinking.  The thought process was maddening an uninformative but Ignis couldn’t stop himself from going around and round. 

Gladio came in about an hour later.  He moved stealthily through the room and stood next to the window, looking out over Lestallum with his back to Ignis.  Ignis wanted to say something but found his words choked off again, his mind blank of what to say or do.  Gladio smelled faintly of whiskey and cigarette smoke, and Ignis couldn’t help but worry about him even more.

It was half an hour before dawn, an hour before Ignis typically rose, that Gladio finally relented from his vigil.  He slid out of his tank top, kicked off his shoes and dropped his pants wear he stood.  Clad only in his boxers, he slipped into the bed, pointedly putting his back to Ignis.  That right there told Ignis that Gladio knew he was still awake and didn’t want to talk but that was alright.  After lying awake all night, Ignis had managed to cobble together a plan to help him.  He just had to wait another hour before he could begin to put that plan into motion.

Exactly one hour later, Ignis slipped silently out of bed, dressed and stepped out into the early morning light without so much as a twitch from the other occupants in the room.

-Break-

Lestallum’s marketplace was renowned for having everything imaginable but apparently not what Ignis was looking for.

He backed away from yet another display of stuff toys with a frown on his face.  He had only been in Gladiolus room twice.  Once because the Prince had been worried why Gladio had canceled practice only to find him half delirious with a fever that he refused to take medication for to ‘sweat out and grow stronger from’.  The other time had been the day after Ignis’ twenty first birthday.  Gladio had brought him home after getting him thoroughly sloshed on various umbrella drinks, beers and shots all chased with about a quarter of a bottle of amaretto.  Ignis still refused to touch that stuff to this very day.

However, both times he remember seeing a light brown teddy bear, sitting in a place of honor on top of an overstuffed bookcase in the corner.  He hadn’t really paid it any mind except for making an offhand comment during Gladio’s heavy handed style of nursing him through his first and absolutely worse hangover to date.  The bogyguard had shrugged it off, said something about it was from when he was a kid and left it at that.

Ignis kicked himself now for not piecing that part of the pie together sooner. 

Still, nothing in the market quiet matched it, and thanks to his photographic memory, Ignis knew exactly what he was looking for even though it eluded him.  He checked the time on his phone.  It was almost seven and he had been to every toy vendor he knew of in the market.  It was time he got serious.

Ignis cracked his knuckles as he set up a mental time table and list of what he needed.  Making it would at least allow him to dictate the size though he had never tested his sewing skills outside of mending or hemming clothing.  It would be a interesting and welcoming challenge, especially if it produced the desired results.

Supplies in hand, Ignis tucked himself away in the back corner of a little coffee shop on the far side of town from the Leville.  Asking the waitress to keep his coffee cup full of coffee, Ignis snipped and sewed.  Occasionally checking his phone to make sure he was using the correct stitch or to make sure he was meeting his time table as he worked. 

“Making a stuff toy for someone?”  The waitress asked conversationally when he was adding the finishing touches.  Two black ovals for eyes done in a modified whip stitch and a little triangle nose with a barely there smile for a mouth.

“Yes… my brother,” he said as he examined his work for any imperfections.  An arm was a little too loose for his liking so he began to shore it up a little better.  “He… lost the original.”

“Well that’s too bad.  At least his has such a considerate, talented older brother able to make him a new one!”

Gladio was older than he was but Ignis was too busy reprimanding himself for not making it sooner to clarify.

-Break-

He ran into Noctis and Prompto on the way back to the hotel, the handcrafted teddy bear carefully hidden in a bag of curatives that they needed to replenish their stores.  “Gladio’s taking a shower,” Prompto said brightly missing the flinch that crossed Ignis’ face as he worked at keeping a mostly asleep Noctis from tipping over on the pavement.  “And we’re starving so we’re going to find breakfast.  Wanna join us?”

“Thank you but I have already eaten,” he declined gracefully, refusing to mention his breakfast was nothing more than ten cups of coffee.  They got on his case enough for sustaining himself on coffee when he was too busy to eat and he wasn’t in the mood to hear it again.  “I trust you two can stay out of trouble if left to your own devices?”

“Leave it to me!” Promtpo gave him a beaming smile and a thumbs up before having to rush to catch Noct as he almost slid to the ground.  “We’ll be alright.”

“If neither of you are not back to the room within the hour, I’ll assume the worst,” he said hiding a half smile at Prompto’s pout and the faint snore that escaped Noct.

The shower was still running when he got back to the room.  While part of him wanted to go in and check on his friend, he refrained.  Knowing Gladio, he wouldn’t take it well if he invaded his privacy so recently after the other had confided in him.  Ignis passed the time putting away his purchases but soon found himself sitting on his side of the bed they had shared the previous night, locked in a staring contest with his little creation. 

“Iggy?” Gladio sounded normal and Ignis bit the inside of his cheek to prevent himself from turning and asking how the other was doing.  “You okay?” he was approaching the bed, coming towards the foot of it.  “It’s not like you to be sitting idly in an empty room…” his voice died off as he realized what Ignis was holding.

“If I remember right,” He started slowly, not looking at Gladio, the tone of his voice and his body language mirroring what Gladio’s had been the night before.  “He was actually two feet long and the ribbon around his neck was a shade or two darker green than this.  Still…” he made a show of turning the small stuff toy -barely six inches long and easily held in one hand- over as if inspecting its back before turning it around to its front.  “I think I came fairly close to making a scaled down version of your former bear.”

Gladio stood still for a moment longer before sitting down next to him on the bed.  He was clad in nothing but a towel, water still running in small rivulets from his hair down his chest.  “You made that?” his voice was small, Ignis glanced out of the corner of his eye but Gladio’s focus was still on the small teddy bear in his hands.

“A bit of a rush job if I do say so myself but I should be able to easily mend or recreate it if anything happens to him.”  He sat up a bit straighter and took one of Gladio’s hands, plopping his small creation in it.  “He’s small enough to be easily carried, even in the inner pockets of one of your jackets, though his stature makes him rather difficult to properly hug.”

“Fuck Iggy, I…” Gladio’s words seemed to fail him as he turned the small bear over.  “He looks just like him.”

Ignis lightly rested a hand to his wrist and Gladio looked at him with watery, amber eyes.  “If you ever need a proper hug, simply ask me about or for a teddy bear and I will do my best to hug you like the larger one you lost.”  That was his real plan, the teddy bear in Gladio’s hand nothing but a pleasant reminder of what he lost.  This way, Gladio would hopefully not turn to the warm embrace of a shower over the warm embrace of another human.  “We’re all in this war together and while I understand that you want to stand as an impregnable force most of the time that doesn’t mean you don’t need support and comfort now and then as well.”

“T-teddy,” Gladio managed even as his voice began to choke up, his lashes dampening as he spoke.  Without hesitation, Ignis wrapped his arms around his larger friend and held him close.  Gladio didn’t move for several heartbeats before reaching up and wrapping his arms in return around Ignis.  One hand was clutching the small bear, the other bunching up Ignis’ shirt.  Ignis didn’t pay it any mind nor did he mind the dampness from his friend’s recent shower soaking into his shirt.  He resolutely didn’t mention or acknowledge how damp his shirt was becoming from where Gladio had his face pressed into Ignis’ shoulder, he merely held him tighter.

He carefully carded a hand through Gladio’s hair, ignoring the small shuddering sob his action caused.  “You’re not alone Gladio,” he whispered softly into his temple, pressing a similar kiss there like Gladio had done to him the night before.  “Simply ask and I will do what I can to help.”

Over the next several weeks, Gladiolus would occasionally nudge him awake or join him when he got up to make breakfast at whatever haven they decided to spend the night at.  Gladio would either whisper or make an off handed comment about teddy bears and Ignis response to that was always the same.  He would turn to his brother and draw him into his arms, holding him close in a protective embrace, as if he could physically hold the cracked Shield together, acting as a simple reminder to him that Gladio didn’t stand alone.

**Author's Note:**

> And in my personal headspace, after Ignis first looses his eyesight and is confined to a bed for several days, he knows he's still safe and hasn't been captured because that little teddy bear stays curled up next to him.


End file.
